Rock climbing is a sport which tends to create and amplify imbalances in the body. Much of the work is done with the arms overhead as the climber sets gear or reaches to grip and pull on hand holds. Often, this is in situations where falling would be scary or even dangerous, forcing the climber to override messages from the fingers, hands, arms and shoulders that would cause a person in a safe situation to stop and rest. Over time the intense stresses from climbing can cause interesting muscular imbalances as well as poor posture and bad habits of movement through the shoulders and upper body.

A good training program for a climber will include lots of very specific exercises targeted at the individual’s goals, the kind of climbing they do, and their strengths and weaknesses. A rock climber trying to push the limits will want to train for finger and hand strength, spend time hanging and doing pull ups, improve strength to weight ratio, etc. A person planning to climb an extreme alpine route, on the other hand, might not need to be able to hang off dime sized holds, but will need to train in a manner which places them at their physical peak of power, endurance and aerobic fitness at the time of the event. 

So, for the climber why Pilates?

In my own training and when I work with other climbers I use lots of specific exercises – what I call direct training for the sport. But I view something like strong fingers as a tool, and that tool will be used best by a balanced and functionally strong body. So I use Pilates exercises to help create that solid athletic base of functional strength, a foundation which will help the climber train and climb with less chance of injury, and give him or her the physical confidence to keep climbing at a satisfying level as they age. In Pilates we learn to perform difficult series of movements with control and precision, often while our balance is being challenged. We learn to visualize a movement and then create that movement exactly as we saw it in our mind. For climbers visualization is a powerful tool, and is a key to success on hard climbs. In Pilates we use visualization to improve the “mind-body connection,” which enables the highest quality movement even under extreme physical stress.

One of the fundamentals of Pilates is that all movement comes from the center of the body: the core or “powerhouse.” Done properly, the exercises will earn you rock solid stability in your center which will bring you exceptional new strength and control in awkward, out of balance and reachy positions. This support from the core will also stabilize your shoulders and hips and support your back, areas which are vulnerable to injury under the stresses of climbing.